Just returned from Iran, and have a funny football related anecdote to tell you all.

[AsOen5]

Thats why none of our Team Melli Talents was at Perspolis or Esteghlal youth academy.
Ezzatollahi - Malavan
Jahanbakhsh - Damash
Azmoun - Etka Gorgan (later Sepahan)
Taremi - Iranjavan
Etc...
Money doesn't help you that much. Thats why a Mehdi Nazari which payed Ghalenoei for playing time, while never scoring as a Striker ends up at Azadegan scoring like 4 goals only.

[Mr Pouya]

Lol I knew someone that did this, but unlike your cousin, he had no talent and was just a typical tehrooni bache pool dar.

[04041374]

In these situations we have to appreciate someone like Mahdavikia who puts effort to expose Iranian talent to the world. He's literally paying from his own pocket to run his academy. All without corruption or favoring.

[Omids]

funny football related anecdote? Nothing funny about this anecdote, really sad instead...

[Ghermez Agha]

So, my cousin Ali is playing in a small club in Tehran, he is 16 years old. He invites me to his practice, and they let an old man like me join in their practice.

Funny thing is, my cousin is wearing a Naft Tehran jersey. I asked him about it, and he told me this interesting story.

My cousin is a skilled footballer for his age, and apparently a few Tehran teams approached him to join their youth academies when he was 11-12 years old. But, unlike most European academies, instead of paying him to play football, they asked my cousin to pay them $500 to join Naft's youth squad.

Fair enough, he dreams to be a footballer, and my aunt and uncle have money, so they pay for it.

Fast forward a few months, and he is playing against Persepolis youth team. After the match, a Persepolis official comes to him, and tells him that if he pays the official $15,000 USD, they can get him into Persepolis, and when people Google his name, they will see that he plays for Persepolis!!

I laughed out loud. He was laughing too. Soon after, he quit Naft's youth academy, as he saw how corrupt the whole development system in Iran can be. I never would have thought that some of the jokes here of players paying their ways onto good teams in Iran would turn out to be true, but from my cousin himself, I heard this. Some of his teammates also echoed similar situations of being asked for money to join youth academies.

Should IPL teams be asking young players to pay them to join the team? Shouldn't they make the system closer to Barcelona or any professional environment where players are brought in based on potential and not their abilities to pay? Shouldn't the clubs pay the players who go out and work hard for the teams? It seems kind of ridiculous to me, and thought it would be a funny story to share.

Unfortunately none of this is surprising to me. What PK said couldn't be more true...when one reads your story and considers the amount of talent we have seen (especially this year) in our league one can only imagine how much more talent is out there and how much we are being deprived of our own talent. Evidence that we are our own worst enemy, and this is just one of many reasons for that.

Daily life in Iran, unfortunately no surprise. However despite this corruption we are still on top of Asia and can threat the best of the world on a good day as well. Now imagine what our team would be capable of if the talents would actually get some support and don’t have to pay their way up..,

That's why I can only laugh and make fun of people who claim Iran has no talents, the dumbest comment when it comes to talking about Iranian football!

As always hitting it spot on, yet we still have people here saying we don't have any talented players bc we don't have anyone in a top 4 European league just LOL at that, truly sad. Like I always say, in 2-3 years from now we will laugh at those opening up threads about "talent droughts" and "lack of too 4 European league players" when we witness the full emergence of this upcoming golden generation. That is, as long as we have Queiroz.....

[eerooni]

The whole Akhund philosophy of rule is to plunder, steal, and Rob, They are here in Iran to do just That! Nothing more nothing less! From the Rahbar all the way down to the Rozeh khoon in the mosque they all have their eye on Irans riches . keep in mind that these are people who have been poor and Oghdehee for thousands of years! now its their chance to reap the benefits from our mistake !

[khodam]

Both my kids play in US soccer - they actually play at the highest youth level and could be considered good. But this is also a pay to play system- The parents are made to believe their kids are the the next messiah! The entire system is designed to gouge your money. At the end none of these kids will be anything special. I pay because it keeps my kids out of trouble.

This year the Seattle Sounders one of the more prominent clubs in MLS approached the local youth clubs for collaboration. They have also realized the money youth parents are willing to pay if they are let to believe their kid is talented. At the end the actual pro team has nothing to do with these kids.

I think Iran is only learning.

[saadat_abad]

I played club soccer in the U.s from the age of 10 to 17 and that shits expensive !!! I don't know the exact amount but for soccer paying a large amount isn't worth it unless u know ur gonna go pro. I would suggest people stick to ayso! Only like 130 bucks a season

[The-Iron-Ghost]

Actually not uncommon in Australia, the Semi Pro teams operate in the same way. Teams like Sydney United, Sydney Olympic etc the clubs that started the careers of Tim Cahill, Zeljko Kalac, Mark Bosnich, Robbie Slater, Harry Kewell etc. Mind you that the Semi Pro which is called NPL (Ranges from NPL 1 being the best to NPL2, then below that it is amateur/semi which is Mens State League 1 and 2) serves as an unofficial tier 2-5 leagues for Australia. A-League very similar to MLS structure with no relegation or promotion, however NPL1 and below have relegation and promotion. Also players can be payed up to 2500 per match.

If you trial with these clubs and are under the age of 18, you will have to pay it you get selected and it costs anywhere from 1500-3000 per season per season. Main reason is that it is the main source of income for the clubs to operate, pay for coaches, facilities etc

A-League now have youth squads and since they weren't developing players well enough, for the first time ever Sydney FC, Central Coast and Western Sydney have teams in this years NPL2.

So not uncommon to pay to play youth football

[Hosseini]

Exactly why CQ should be so valued as head coach. No partibazi, no bullshit; only picks players based on talent.

[perspolis#1]

In a new government, the most important body would not be Congress but an independent anti-corruption agency